Identity Crisis and the Hardships of Mother-Daughter Relationship in Amy Tan's Short Story Two Kinds

According to Liz Brent, the short story “Two Kinds” by Amy Tan exposes readers to the hardships of mother-daughter relationships when high expectations seem more important than identity. Both Jing-Mei and her mother struggles with false expectations of reality and identity. Brent believes Jing-Mei’s crisis is a result of her mother’s high hopes of her becoming a prodigy and fear of abandonment if her expectations are not met. Along with Jing-Mei, Brent feels her mother ironically is going through the same thing, after leaving behind her home and family to start a better life in America, her idealized vision of the American dream was just in fact a dream. Although Jing-Meis mother is disappointed by their reality she still expects Jing-Mei to achieve something equally as great and was giving her fabricated dreams, inspiring her to try to be something she wasn’t. Brent discusses the narrator not giving her mother a foolish appeal, but instead a hopeful woman who although lost everything still holds onto a dream without realizing the damage it causes.

Jing-Mei’s mother planned to turn her into a prodigy after conceiving the idea from watching television movies, forcing Jing-Mei to watch movies as actor training, taking piano lessons to be a music prodigy, even studying magazines and testing to see if she was a genius. Brent compares each of these ideas to clothes that she could try on a choose to wear, leaving her under an impression that it was easy to become a genius or actor but when this proved to be wrong it threatened her identity and how she saw herself. Brent refers to Jing-Mei’s realization beginning when she finally pushed back at her mother, giving her a sense of personal identity but it immediately stressing her feeling of failure, she had been the body of her mother’s hopes and dreams but couldn’t deliver. When Jing-Mei looked in the mirror and wanted to scratch out her face Brent said “The face Jing-Mei first sees in the mirror is the face of who she is in her mother’s eyes” (298). Brent acknowledges that this is an attempt to remove the image her mother gave her so she can make her own. As the story continues Jing- Mei uses defiant behavior to keep herself from changing into what her mother believes she should be, she began abruptly arguing with her mother, skipping piano lessons, furthering from what her mom wanted, and adding to the hardships of their relationship.

Although Jing-Mei’s mothers hopes and ideas for her were unattainable, this was not the only reason that caused her to feel lost, Brent points out another cause, the differences in their cultural identity. Brent purports that when she becomes disobedient it’s a symbol of how they were culturally different, Jing-Mei was a determined Chinese American who stood up for herself while her mother believed in traditional Chinese practices such as being obedient. When Jing-Mei argues that her mom wants her to be someone else her mother yells back in Chinese saying only one kind of daughter can live in her house, the obedient one, Brent analyzed this to be a symbol of difference in how they were raised, her mother would rather have an obedient child than one who could stand up for themselves, let alone having said this in her native tongue for emphasis. Adding to this Brent said “defining herself in relationship with her mother is also a way of expressing her attitude as a child raised in America” (299). Brent continues to explain that defining who she is to her mother expresses the difference between a child growing up in America and not China.

Amy Tans short story “Two Kinds” tells the story of a mother and daughter who lose everything and move to America for a new start but soon grow to resent each other when the realization that their dreams are just a façade. Liz Brent gives readers a good insight into how relationships can be damaged when too much pressure is put on one to be someone they’re not, she analyzed this shot story in depth, pulling symbols and themes from the context to help readers better understand the meaning of this short story. Brent provided good details from the short story that many may have overlooked and expanded on it to help make better sense of the story and its meaning. With Brents extensive research and insight this story can be better understood and relatable to others. Her article gives readers a better insight and understanding of this story.